SGU Reality of Id
by kimmy4eytj
Summary: It is rough to be alone with your thoughts late at night.


Title: Reality of Id

Author: kimmy4eytj

Rating: T = PG-13

Content Warning: a bit of gore

Spoilers: SGU S2E16 - a few days after _The Hunt_

Characters: Vanessa James, Tamara Johansen, Airman Dunning

Word Count: 1412

Summary: It's scary to be alone with your thoughts.

Author's Notes: Written for an Live Journal Community: SGU_Challenge, Prompt # 079, Multimedia. Make a story from a picture of Cthulhu crouching on a rock in a storm-swept sea with his clawed hand reaching forward. You can view this picture at: .com/albums/g447/kimmy4eytj/SGU%

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It was past midnight aboard _Destiny_ and Vanessa's footsteps reverberated in the deserted corridor leading from the armory. The thrum of the FTL drives, normally a pleasant background sound, grated on her nerves tonight. She walked toward the Mess to see if Becker had left any snacks out for mid-shift rotation thinking her mood would improve with something in her grumbling stomach.

Vanessa had no desire to be in her quarters, alone with her thoughts. Nor did she want to encounter anyone else, not as restless as she felt. The chances of someone being in the Observation Room or at Brody's still at this hour were slim, but enough of a possibility that she chose not to inflict her bad mood on other people. The Mess would have to be her respite.

She could swear the smell of sizzling "space deer" still wafted through the room as she entered it. Her stomach growled and her mouth watered with the memory of that almost forgotten taste of meat. She frowned, looking into the bowls that Becker had set out. The vultures had already circled leaving her a lone nut and scrap of green leaf. With a wry grimace Vanessa picked them out, swallowing them whole.

"That was filling," she thought, "I'll have to watch my girlish figure."

The tin cup rattled against its neighbors as she removed it from its stanchion. She filled the cup, knowing by sound when it reached the level she desired, then turned the nozzle off. Vanessa sat down at a table in the empty room and gulped a mouthful of water to quiet the rumbling from her stomach. She stared down into the clear liquid in the cup, her thoughts drifting.

Vanessa startled when a hand came down on her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" TJ asked. "Is your shoulder still bothering you?"

"What? Oh, yeah," Vanessa gestured in a dismissive manner. "I mean, no, I'm fine, TJ."

"You sure? You look tired." TJ sat beside her with her back to the table. The overhead light emphasized the raw wounds on her face and forehead.

"Just got off shift."

TJ cocked her head to the side, looking at Vanessa critically. "I can give you some tea leaves, they'll help you sleep."

"Thanks. No," she shook her head, "I'm good."

"Well, if you change your mind, I'll be in the infirmary for about an hour." TJ stood up. "Reynolds developed an infection, so I'm keeping a close eye on him."

Vanessa nodded and watched TJ fill a cup and take it with her. She blew a sigh through her lips. TJ was her best friend. Her's and Reynolds' harrowing capture and eventual escape from a six-legged carnivore intent on feeding them to her cubs had been narrow indeed. The open wounds on TJ's face and cheek were stark reminders of that vicious and unexpected attack. An attack that had precipitated the deaths of several crew and all of the remaining Lucian Alliance, except Varro.

Vanessa didn't want to add to TJ's burden with her disconcerted mood. She picked up her tin cup and absently, started swirling her hand. The clear liquid swished about the inside, riding up the side, and sloshed over her hand. Vanessa glanced down unable to cease her movements and the vortex deepened to the bottom of the cup. Vanessa sat memorized by the tiny whirlpool in her hand.

The nightmare bloomed in her minds eye, immediate and abrupt. Drawn into the vision, Vanessa saw herself sliding over a heaving, metallic surface with increasing speed, and toppling end over end, she plunged beneath the turbulent, black waves. Shocked with the sudden cold that enveloped her, she struggled to orient herself, then swam strongly toward the surface.

Her breath faltered as a three fingered, green-scaled, clawed hand reached out for her. Its nails curved inward, gleaming white and sharp as Death's scythe. A pronounced brow ridge shielded the glowing, oblong, red eyes across its broad face. Its massive trunk, much like an elephant's trunk, hung long down its body. Four agile, sinewy tentacles bracketed either side of the trunk, and were prodigiously lined with huge suckers. The beast crouched upon powerfully muscled legs, thick as sequoia trunks, the claws of its feet wrapping over the rock, crumbling the edges with its weight. The creature's membrane thin, gray wings fluttered above its head and provided stability like a jib sail against the high wind.

As the monster leaned toward her, sea foam gusted low across the water, blinding her momentarily. Vanessa swiped a hand across her eyes, then turned and swam as swiftly as she could, searching for a hiding space among the detritus of the ship.

Tendons covered in slimy, green-brown seaweed stretched taut as the beast opened its hand further, so large it blocked her view of the threatening, black-green clouds scouring across the sky. She ducked below the water stroking and kicking with all her might, desperate to get deeper, hoping to disguise herself in the debris field. Her frantic escape into the depths quickly used up the scant air in her lungs.

In the turbid water, she wasn't able to see more than an arm's length around her and only felt the presence of bobbing wreckage near her. If she could get close enough, she'd be able to regain the surface for air undetected. Pain spread across her chest, crushing, searing emptiness, and she fought the instinct to breathe, clamping her lips tight. Her vision narrowed and her arms and legs became leaden.

The beast's clawed hand swiped at the water like a huge dredge lifting flotsam and volumes of water, and overwhelming her attempts to remain submerged. She broached the surface, gasping air into her oxygen-starved lungs and swallowed copious amounts of sea water, choking and coughing. Her arms flailed, slapping at the water, and she recognized that her clothes and boots were sodden and weighing her down. She no longer had the strength to keep herself afloat.

The creature scooped her from the roiling cold water. A triumphant, screeching bellow blasted from its trunk as it held her high above its head. Its red eyes glowered at her, seemingly angry that she had caused it significant annoyance before her capture. The clammy scaled hand tightened around her, squeezing her body. One of its razor-like claws sliced into her thigh, warming her leg with her own blood. The scent of it seemed to excite the creature. It bent its head back, raising its trunk to expose a green-black maw filled with rows of serrated teeth, beyond which yawned its abyssal gullet.

It released her, seemingly, into a slow-motion fall, inexorably toward that gaping mouth. Initially, she felt no pain when a tooth severed an arm. Then she experienced searing agony as the monster's acidic saliva dissolved into the wound. Her scream strangled with the intensity of the pain. Another saw-toothed edge sliced through her ribs, cutting away skin and cartilage, leaving a gory trail of red strips trailing behind her like banners, a transient mark of her line of descent.

She continued to fall in a cloud of her own blood, then buoyed backward by a sickly sweet and sour outflow of air within the creature's black maw, the stench losing her stomach and again, she fell further ….

A piercing clatter of tin broke her reverie and Vanessa jerked, her hand's movement sending her cup skittering across the table onto the floor. She turned towards the noise and got a sheepish grin from Airman Dunning.

"Sorry, Lieutenant," Dunning mumbled. He bent to pick up the cups.

Vanessa simply nodded, glad that her waking nightmare had been broken. The images of the dream had faded, but she still felt the effects of adrenalin coursing through her blood stream. She felt light-headed and inhaled deeply then blew out slowly several times to steady her breathing. Shifting her body, Vanessa lifted her legs over the bench and stood, careful to hold onto the edge of the table until her trembling legs steadied beneath her.

Dunning took a rag and wiped the spilled water from the table and floor. He handed Vanessa her cup with a slightly embarrassed expression.

Vanessa knew their bout with the intelligent six-legged carnivore a few days prior had triggered this dream. She had woken that morning irritable and restless. She had been too busy during the day to give it more than a cursory thought, but the vivid waking nightmare she had just experienced confirmed her initial assumption. The cycle of these dreams had to be broken early.

A fresh refill of her cup and Vanessa headed for the infirmary. Time to take TJ up on her tea leaf sleep additive.

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><p>© kimmy4eytj, March 2012<p>

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and places are the property of MGM, ACME Shark, and Spyglass Productions and their subsidiaries. This piece of fan fiction was created for entertainment not monetary purposes and no infringement on copyrights or trademarks was intended. Previously unrecognized characters and places, and this story, are copyrighted to the author. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.


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